


Seventh Child

by fengirl88



Category: Die sechs Schwäne | The Six Swans, Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Kinder- und Hausmärchen
Genre: Community: fan_flashworks, Gen, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-16 08:51:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18091247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fengirl88/pseuds/fengirl88
Summary: She hears the beating of wings





	Seventh Child

she hears the beating of wings  
at sunset; her six brothers  
fly home in the form of swans

their enchantment suspended  
for a scant fifteen minutes  
they teach her how to break it:

six years of silence, weaving  
shirts of nettles, hands blistered,  
her children stolen, her mouth

smeared with blood by the old queen  
while she slept, blamed for their deaths,  
unable to clear her name

the shirts finished, all but one,  
six years of silence ending  
at sunset: the sound of wings

as she stands tied to the stake  
her brothers fly to her side  
she throws the shirts over them

what everyone remembers  
her youngest brother’s one wing  
where the last sleeve was missing

her story is named for them

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Wings challenge at fan_flashworks and as a fill for the Seven square on my bingo card


End file.
